Lusaka, April 13 (NNN-ZANIS) Zambia earned more than 2.7 trillion Kwacha (one USD = about 4,200 Kwacaha) from copper exports during the first quarter of this year, largely because of a rise in sales volume, Bank of Zambia (BoZ) Governor Caleb Fundanga said.

He told a quarterly media briefing here Thursday that copper export earnings rose by 2.4 per cent to 651.1 million USD in the first quarter of this year from 636 million USD in the preceding quarter and were 17 per cent higher than the 555.8 million USD recorded for the corresponding quarter of 2006.

Dr. Fundanga said copper export volume increased to 112,198.2 metric tons from 107,221 metric tons previously.

"Metal export earnings increased to 698.1 million USD from 676.2 million USD in the preceding quarter, reflecting both higher copper and cobalt exports earnings," he said.

He, however, indicated that copper output declined marginally by 0.14 per cent because of flooding of mines during the rainy season – 114,403 tonnes during the previous quarter to 114,238 tonnes in the first quarter of this year. The output was also 9.3 per cent lower than the 125,880 tonnes produced during the same quarter of 2006.

Dr. Fundanga said the higher price of cobalt contributed to a rise in the commodity’s export earnings in the quarter. He said the price of cobalt rose from 17.6 USD to 21.5 USD per pound while earnings rose from 40.2 million USD to 46.8 million USD.

Meanwhile, Zambia's balance of payments position has improved following improvements in the capital and financial accounts, the governor said.

Both the capital and financial accounts improved mainly because of a rise in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and an increase in donor support following the government's good economic management.

The balance of payment position significantly improved to a deficit of 85.1 million USD from a deficit of 203.9 million USD in the previous quarter while the capital and financial accounts improved to a surplus of 167.0 million USD from a deficit of 64.5 million USD.

Dr. Fundanga said the trade surplus narrowed to 57.7 million USD following an increase in merchandise imports coupled with lower merchandise export earnings. Lower export earnings associated with copper wire, white spoon sugar and tobacco led to a drop in non-traditional earnings (NTEs).

He disclosed that NTEs were 19.5 per cent below the 201.6 million USD recorded in the previous quarter.